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The barren surface of SR388 was notable for its rough, rocky and dry terrain. Underneath SR388's surface was a vast maze of tunnels and "dangerous liquid". Since the planet was once inhabited by the Chozo, it is safe to assume that they created much of the underground complex.

The ancient Chozo's colonies filled portions of the planet's interior, and many had deteriorated into ruins. The race had long since either abandoned SR388 or were wiped out. Also, many robots and drones left by the ancient civilization were still functioning during Samus' mission on the planet; it is unknown what their original purposes were, but these aggressive synthetic beings have seemingly gone rogue since then.

Acid on SR388 blocked off many of the underground caverns and ruins. There were also frequent earthquakes that occurred and when they did, it usually happened in conjunction with the liquid level decreasing, often-times exposing new areas of the planet to be explored.

The BSL's Sector 1 (SRX), created to be a perfect replica of SR388's environment, was secretly used by the Galactic Federation to raise Metroids through their natural life-cycle; these specimens were created using the DNA of the only surviving Metroid from the species' extermination on SR388 caused by Samus Aran.

SR388. A vile planet, former home of the Metroids. After so many years, the remaining creatures on this planet still seemed to be trying to recreate a natural hierarchy, one without Metroids at the top.

"In the 'Metroid' manga, it describes that "The Chozo developed the Metroids in order to exterminate the X living on SR-388", but I think it was previously established that "there is a high probability that the Metroid destroyed the civilization on SR-388." I think it was the X that really destroyed SR-388."

Yoshio Sakamoto: "I think SR-388's civilization was destroyed and the Chozo left for Zebes after the Metroids were released into the wild (became feral). The Galactic Federation, not knowing the reason why the Metroids were developed, requested Samus to clean them up ("Metroid II"). The result of Samus exterminating the Metroids was that the propagation of the X could permit the SR-388 ecosystem to be destroyed ("Metroid Fusion")." [4]

SR388 is the last of four planets to be destroyed, even if not her intention, by Samus Aran, the others being Dark Aether, Phaaze and Zebes.

As mentioned before, artificial beings seemingly created by the Chozo can be found among the latter's ruins on SR388, many of which have weapons installed on them and attack on sight. It is possible the Chozo created them to keep the native wildlife at bay or more specifically, to use against the dangerous X Parasites.

Ever since the discovery of the Metroids and Chozo ruins on SR388, it was believed that the life-sucking organisms were responsible for the supposed annihilation of the Chozo inhabitants of the planet. However, with the existence of the X Parasite uncovered, the initial theory has been put into doubt, with the X now being the possible main culprit.

During the game Metroid II, SR388 seemed to have a relatively low population of wildlife. The X Parasites were seemingly responsible for this, as stated by Yoshio Sakamoto and the Metroid manga. This would also explain why, in Metroid Fusion, the BSL Station's SRX (a sector that perfectly replicates the planet) contained very few of SR388's wildlife seen in the earlier game; after the extinction of Metroids, the X undoubtedly resurfaced in large numbers and steadily reduced the fauna on the planet even further (if not completely), making Galactic Federation Researchers' task of collecting varied specimens a difficult one.

Metroids may have also contributed to the near extinction of the bioforms inhabiting SR388, given their vicious nature.

The planet's name is pronounced differently between games. Fusion renders the last two numbers as an "88" (eighty-eight) while Other M makes them distinct digits as "8-8" (eight-eight).

The Space Pirates appear to have at least known of SR388; a scanned tank in the Metroid Processing room in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption states a specimen from SR388 had been moved and there was a 'newly discovered strain'.

In the beta phase for the upcoming strategy game Planetary Annihilation, the name "SR-388" was included as one of the possible names a generated planet could have in the System Editor mode.

An interview with several of the staff from the original Metroid state that SR388 came from a motorcycle engine, SR400: "...in those days, while it was called 400cc, you didn't have any choice but 388cc, but it was written like that for the time being, and that's how it came out!"[5]